Art

There is something strangely intriguing and mesmerizing about her chicken-wire sculptures.

Trying to put our finger on it, we came up with more than a few explanations why we love these so much.

One appealing aspect is that they look somehow unfinished and raw. The wire frame is usually the part of a sculpture we do not see. It is not the final product. And yet, these airy and lightweight pieces seem to lack nothing at all. They are very much finished and completed.

And the lightness and weightlessness, that floating feel, is another endearing quality. These pieces seem to be almost nonexistent. Barely there. About to disintegrate and vanish.

And that fleeting property of Ubaldini’s work is yet another reason why we cannot take our eyes off them. Something sneaky, shady, secretive and sly. Maybe even a bit evil and sinister. Maybe we shouldn’t be seeing these ephemeral sculpture innards at all?

Ubaldini’s work has graced store windows, art galleries and event spaces in many countries, and two of her smaller pieces are even on sale at Magis Me Too as decorations for children’s rooms.

In their incredible simplicity, her wire-frame, 3D-pieces leave us much room to interpret and come up with our own viewpoint. Is it good or bad, happy or sad, fun or sinister, serious or just plain playful junk?

For some reason, we want to take this artwork very seriously. We want her to do larger installations. Massive worlds and environments.

After all, if an artist’s work gives us reason to ponder, consider and think, it has given us the best gift art can give us. - Tuija Seipell.

CJ Hendry is an exceptionally talented artist. Plain and simple. She has blown us away and created a major reaction among the art-buying public.

Her large-scale, black-and-white, pen-on-paper images are simply astonishing. They are so incredibly detailed and perfect that it is hard to believe that they are in fact unique, one-of-a-kind works of art, and not reproductions of a photograph.

CJ Hendry’s creative process starts with the selection of the object, continues with taking more than 100 photographs of the object to discover the shadows and angles that best present the object, and then starts the painstaking two-week process of transferring the selected image onto paper with a pen, one scrible at a time.

We have never seen work like hers, and we have never ever encountered a response similar to what the reaction to her incredible work has been. And we are now her exclusive agents.

As soon as we post an image of one of her pieces on Instagram, it is reserved and sold in a few hours.

But her current project of creating massive (1.8 x 2.4 m), photo-realistic, original pen-on-paper works of shopping bags of iconic brands – from Tom Ford and Hermes to Lanvin and Chanel - really has had us gasping for air.

Each piece is absolutely stunning and art buyers are competing to own them. Each piece is painstakingly drawn by CJ Hendry with only pen and ink. Each takes about two weeks to complete and there will be only one of each image.

The series of IT Bags will include 12-15 bags in total. Serious art collectors get in contact

Francoise Nielly's massive, colourful portraits are delicious to look at. Even more wonderful – and particularly infuriating to those of us who have timidly dabbled in painting – is to watch her create them. She, in her confident, strong hand, wields her painting knife shaped like a miniature garden trowel, and makes painting look easy like cake frosting.

She paints her vivid, passionate canvases — some as large as 78 x 25 inches (195 x 62 centimeters) -- from black-and-white photos, further proof of her unfailing ability to interpret light, shadow, hue and tone by applying brilliant colours and daring strokes.

Born in Marseille, brought up near Cannes and Saint-Tropez, and now living in Paris, Nielly is at home among bold contrast and dazzling light. To add to her likeability, here is the list of her loves: Life, wide open spaces, sushi, blue lagoons, the Internet, humor, books, Paris, New York and Vancouver.

Six of her prints are available exclusively through TCH online store - 1000mm x 1000ml & 1200mm x 1200 metallic print on acrylic.

We discovered Australian artist CJ Hendry through her Instagram account and were immediately blown away by her work. Armed with only paper and pen, she creates magnificent, photorealistic black-and-white images in large format. Her subjects are generally high-end fashion objects, such as a Hermes scarf or a Louis Vuitton horse head, but they can also be other inanimate objects including sculls and guns.

The pieces are mesmerizing visual objects in their own right, but once you realize they are created by just pen and ink, you really start to appreciate the skill and patience involved.

We are very happy to be the first to introduce her work to the world at large. We are usually pretty good at knowing when we have found a winner, and we know she’s one.

All six of her pieces were sold prior to the opening of The Art Hunter in Sydney and all via Instagram.

CJ Hendry’s creative process starts with selecting an object, or in some cases the objects selects her and she becomes obsessed with it to the point of having to create an image of it in ink. She then photographs the object in different positions and lighting, sometimes taking more than 100 images. She looks for a strong contrast with negative space that then draws the focus onto the object itself.

She selects the image that evokes a sense of simplicity and balance, or that in her words “shows off” the item the best. She then prints a black-and-white image and creates a grid on a large sheet of Arches paper. She spends sometimes more than 200 hours painstakingly creating the final piece using only black UniPin pens

.
Having dropped out of two university programs, the former almost-Olympic-level swimmer (she just missed the Athens Olympics and left full-time swimming after that) has now found a satisfying life to channel her creativity, mental endurance and obsession with fashion.

CJ explains: “The main reason I am so obsessed with expansive white backgrounds and highly detailed objects was through my early years of studying architecture. I was completely obsessed with the large plans with perfect lines, and this is where I was introduced to the black UniPin pens. I was not very good on the computer so I drew all my plans for all the assignments and drew detailed renderings of the buildings. The lecturers were not happy with me because I wasn’t using CAD and said I better learn, so I dropped out.”

CJ Hendry does not do private commissions and is exclusively represented by TCH. We will be having 4 shows a year of CJ Hendry's work in the coming next 12 months. Subscribe to our newsletetter to be updated.

More than 400 invited guests attended the opening event of The Art Hunter in Sydney on Tuesday night.

The Art Hunter launch is a collaboration between The Cool Hunter and Jaguar, and the opening night was also the Australian debut of the spectacular Jaguar C-X17 concept car.

To present The Art Hunter, we engaged our dream team of collaborators, led by the incomparable Natalie Longeon, Peter Pengly and Phil Barker from The Artistry (they designed and executed our Summer Lovers store as well), to transform a 500 m2 warehouse in Alexandria into a genuinely exciting, temporary three-week art exhibition experience.

The Art Hunter is not a white-walled space where you quietly walk past pieces of art. Instead, it is an eclectic and vibrant environment where every wall is a different colour (by our paint sponsor Taubmans), where there is no natural light and where the work of more than 40 artists, curated by us, is not only on display but also for sale.

Every one of the seven exhibit spaces has its own unique theme in addition to having its own wall and floor texture and colour.

The 3D Wallpanels in this space, for example, provide the background for the stunning, exclusive-to-The-Art-Hunter artwork of CJ Hendry in her first-ever public show.

In this corner, more CJ Hendry art with Oliver Tanner sculpture and floor designed by Hollie Martin.

The incredible artwork of CJ Hendry -all hand drawn by pen – drew much attention via Instagram even before her public debut at The Art Hunter. Five of the six works shown, were pre-sold before the opening night. (CJ Hendry is now exlusively represented by TCH)

At every turn, The Art Hunter surprises by serving up powerful, stunning art, capable of turning heads in any environment, from private residences to public spaces.

And to further prove the point that art does not need to presented in a boring, bland environment, we engaged Joe Crossley to create an incredible pattern with tape on the concrete floor.

The video room at The Art Hunter has a continuous show of five videos by different artists but you need to visit The Art Hunter to find out who they are!

The visual artists represented at The Art Hunter include both well-established masters and startling new discoveries, such as CJ Hendry. Other artists involved include Stephen Oramndy, Dorryce Rock, Daniel Hollier, Phil James, Friends With You, Paul Ryan and Jasper Knight to name a few.

I would like to thank Jaguar & Black Communications for making this all possible. It is incredibly rewarding to work with an iconic brand like Jaguar and to create an environment that is truly worth experiencing. And, of course, the Jaguar C-X17 is beyond incredible.

Matthew Beaven, Jaguar’s Chief Designer, Exteriors, Advanced Design, flew in from London to host the evening with us.

At The Art Hunter, the Jaguar C-X17 concept car and brand positioning – How Alive Are You? was brought to life by The Creative Shop through the use of both audio and visual stimulus. Entering the room to hear a solid heartbeat that increased in speed and tempo, all the while visualising this through red pulse graphics on the walls, helped to create an immersive experience that demonstrated that the Jaguar C-X17 is a living and breathing machine.

I also want to thank our creative producers The Artistry specifically. I have never worked with a team of people who so enthusiastically showed so much interest and care in everything they do. The attention to detail, the design and execution, the construction of our enormous set, the managing of the food and drinks of the launch evening - every single detail was executed to an extraordinary level of professionalism. I am so lucky to be working with them.

In this space, the floor was created by Tania De Bono of #thewritings and the photograph is by Nick Samartis.

The confession room designed by Hendrik Gericke where people walk into a neon-lit room to write a confession and share it on the wall.

Neon art in this space is paired with the Rainbow Trooper by Super Future Kid.

At the opening, we also had incredible edible food art provided by the talented team of Studio Neon with Andy Warhol soup cans for serving fermentad tomato gazpacho with prawns. Large terracotta pots with zucchini flowers, goats cheese hazelenut and honey and vegetable puree served as edible paint. And of course, we had the best mobile bar staff in Sydney with the Trolleyd boys along with our partners, Peroni, Nakd Water from NZ, Grey Goose, Karma Kola, Bombay Sapphire, Milagro Tequila.

The Art Hunter – open for three weeks only at
90-96 Bourke Road
Alexandria (directly opposite the Grounds)
Sydney, Australia

Want to see more? Use the hashtag #thearthunter on instagram to see everyone’s images.

The Art Hunter is The Cool Hunter’s latest, and so far the largest, offline experiential endeavour. It started with two The Cool House wildly successful temporary boutiques in Sydney and Melbourne in 2012, followed by The Cool Hunter ‘Rotate” Summer Lovers store in Sydney in 2013, and now in 2014, The Art Hunter

We can do much more with this fabulous warehouse space, the sky is not the limit! If you have a corporate event, product launch, fashion show, or other happening in mind in Sydney the near future, let us know. We have not only the ideas, but also the teams to make your next event a stunner.

The Art Hunter – open for three weeks only at
90-96 Bourke Road
Alexandria (directly opposite the Grounds)
Sydney, Australia

Filmed at sunrise on the 57th floor of 4WTC in lower Manhattan, this short film captures an extraordinary and moving performance of Christopher Wheeldon's After the Rain. It is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, and a tribute to the future of the city that New York City Ballet calls home. Beautifully shot.

Fiddian-Green was at Reschio, working on a commission for the owner, Count Antonio Bolza. And, of course, the subject matter of his massive sculpture was the horse, in this case Count Antonio's favourite stallion, Punto, born and bred at Reschio.

We say "of course" because the British sculptor, who normally works at his hilltop studio near Guildford in Surrey, UK, has been obsessed with the equine head for nearly three decades.

Ever since he saw a fifth-century B.C. carving of the head of a horse of Selene from the Parthenon at the British Museum he has worked at perfecting the form of the horse's head, as well as mastering the ancient 'lost wax' technique. He works in clay, plaster, beaten lead and marble, and he oversees the casting into bronze himself.

Fiddian-Green's colossal, classically inspired equine heads are exhibited around the world in prominent locations, including 'Still water ', the 30-foot head of a drinking horse right next to the Marble Arch in London.

Celebrities have also found his work irresistible and collectors include J.K. Rowling, Ringo Starr, Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe.

Of his work at Castello Di Reschio, Fiddian-Green said in a statement: "At Reschio, I found new inspiration not only from the study of these wonderful Andalusian horses, but from the light, the smell, the hills, the sense of ancient peace that pervades the land from the days when St. Francis wandered through these hills, and before, way back to the time of the Etruscans. In fact the very air that fills this land upon which Reschio sits has ignited a new fire in my work." - Bill TIkos

Eastern philosophy, gods of Buddhist origin, faces of Gandhi, ornately decorated hands, varying versions of the elephant-headed deity Ganesha of the Hindu pantheon – these themes populate the work of street artist Cryptik out of Hawaii.

While his street art may be based on gang graffiti and it sometimes decorates rough and dilapidated areas, the sophistication of his work and the incredible skill involved are evident in his books. Of the books, at least Cryptik: Eastern Philosophies is worth a serious look. The latest we have yet to see but it is called Thanks to Chloe. - Tuija Seipell

In Christchurch, New Zealand, 10 massive optical illusion-inducing mixed-media art pieces by Mike Hewson pay homage to the former Christchurch Normal School which opened in 1876.

The building, completely renovated for apartment and retail use in 1981 and renamed Cranmer Courts, was damaged badly in the February 2012 magnitude 6.3 earthquake and it is now destined for demolition.

Before it is gone forever, Hewson wanted to pay homage to the building that used to house a vibrant community. He covered the total of 130 square meters of plywood with mixed-media images depicting artists and others who lived and worked in the building.

Private donations and Hewson's own money covered the $15,000 installation costs. New Zealand-born (in 1985) Mike Hewson is a civil engineer, graduate of Canterbury University (2007). He has worked as a civil engineer in Port Hedland in Western Australia, but has travelled regularly to New Zealand to complete works of art there. He will move permanently back to New Zealand next month and focus on his art full time. - Tuija Seipell